The present invention relates to a non-impact printer of the type in which a row of electrodes spaced transverse to a print line are moved along the print line and selectively energised to cause the transfer of particles of ink from an ink carrier to a printing medium.
In a known printer of this type, a head provided with a vertical column of projecting electrodes is mounted on a closed belt and, on each revolution of the belt, the head passes with a sliding motion over an ink-impregnated fabric ribbon, moving in the direction of the length of the ribbon. The inked ribbon is turned to form a closed loop around two pulleys which cause the ribbon to rotate slowly with respect to the speed of the head. Besides the ribbon, there is provided a sheet of normal paper on which the electrodes print dots by an electrothermal effect when they are energised by suitable voltage pulses.
Such a device suffers from the disadvantage that the inked ribbon is subjected to wear because the relative movement of the head with respect to the ribbon causes the electrodes to slide over the ribbon over the entire length of the print line, and always in the same region, whereby the electrodes will wear the ribbon by digging furrows therein which, by cutting the fibres of the fabric, cause the ribbon to break.
The above-described disadvantages are overcome by the printer according to the invention, as set forth in the attached claims.